And his coach was unsurprisingly full of praise for the youngster's efforts after his heroics, with Richard Shaw waxing lyrical about Daly's ability and how his hard work in recent weeks has paid off.

"I worked with James with the U16s and he is a centre forward, but sometimes you have got to play where you are needed but I like him up front and with James you know what you are going to get," Palace's U23 coach told the club website.

"Honesty, endeavour, work rate, he is going to be aggressive and chases things down.

"Everything he lacks I don't look at as I look at what he can give us and that is real energy and if anyone deserves a hat-trick it was James.